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"The Causeless War" 




AND ITS LESSONS 




FOR US 




A STATEMENT BY 




WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN 




PUBLISHED IN PARTS 




JUNE 16-17-18, 1915 



^2 5 



THE WAR AS IT IS, 

AND ITS INJURY TO NEUTRALS 



1 shall tomorrow discuss the origin of the war and the reasons 
which led the nations of Europe to march, as if blindfolded, into 
the bloody conflict which now rests like a pall over the fairest 
parts of the Old World ; today let us consider the war as it is 
and the injury it is doing to the neutral nations. 

The war is without a precedent in the populations represented ; 
in the number of combatants in the field, in daily expenditures; 
in the eifectiveness of the implements employed; in the lists of 
dead and wounded ; in the wide-spread sutfering caused and in 
the intensity of the hatreds aroused. 

Xo class or condition is exempt from tlie burdens which this 
war imposes ; the rich bear excessive taxation and the poor 
are sorely oppressed; the resources of today are devoured and the 
products of tomorrow are mortgaged. No age is immune. The 
first draft was upon the strong and vigorous, but the govern- 
ments are already calling for those above and below the ordinary 
enlistment zone. 

The war's afflictions are visited uixm women as well as upon 
men — upon wives who await in vain a husl^and's return, and upon 
motliers who must surrender up the sons whose support is the 
natural reliance of declining years. Even children are its 
victims — children innocent of wrong and incapable of doing 
harm. By war's dread decree, babes come into the world, father- 
less at their birth, while the bodies of their sires are burned like 
worthless stubble in the fields over which the Grim Eeaper has 
passed. 

The most extreme illustrations collected from history to })rove 
the loathsomeness of war are overshadowed by new indictments 
written daily; the most distressing pictures drawn by the imag- 
ination are siirpassed by the realities of this indescribable contest. 

Surely we behold "the pestilence that walketh in darkitess and 
the destruction that Avasteth at noon-day 1" 

Xeutral nations can not look on with inditference — the ties 
that bind them together are too strong, the relationship too inti- 
mate. This is especially true of the t^nited States. We have a 
•jf'omposite population — every nation of Europe having con- 
tril)uted liberally to our citizenshi]i. 

These, onr countrymen, themselves born abroad or immediately 
desi-ended from foreign born ancestors, can not but take a lively 
interest in the conduct as well as in the results of the war and 
a still larger circle shares the concern of those directly connected. 
Xot a soldier falls on either side but the sorrow expressed in his 
home finds an echo at some fireside in the United States. 

But aside from sentimental considerations, neutral nations 
suffer serious disturbance because of the war. Duelists, when 
dueling was in fashion, were carefrd to select a ])lace where they 



4 

could settle their personal differences without harm to nnoffend- 
ing bystanders, but warring nations can not, no matter how ear- 
nestly they try, avoid injury to neutrals. As the noisome odors 
of a slaughter house, carried on the breeze, pollute the air in 
every direction, so the evil influences emanating from these 
wide extended battlefields taint the atmosphere of the whole 
political world. War is an international nuisance. T*^early 
every neutral nation finds new domestic problems thrust upon 
it and old problems made more diflficult. 

No American citizen can note without deep concern the 
manner in which war questions have intruded themselves into 
our politics — overshadowing economic issues and stimulating 
agitation in fav^" of enlarged appropriations for military and 
naval purposes. 

BusiMss is deranged and expensive readjustments made neces- 
sary, while commerce with foreign nations is seriously inter- 
rupted. Fluctuations in prices abroad ai'e reflected in the 
markets of the XTnited States; a fall of one cent in the price 
of cotton means tens of millions of dollars to om* prodiicers and 
merchants. Added to this freight rates and insurance ])remiums 
have been increased to cover the greater risks incident to war. 

S<3arcity of ships is one of the greatest commercial embarrass- 
ments caused by the war. We have depended largely \i])on for- 
eign ships to carry our commerce and we could not but suffer 
when the merchantmen of one side were driven from the sea 
and a part of the merchant fleet of the other side was withdrawn 
for government use. 

The neutral nations are i)ut to a great expense to preserve 
neutrality and are constantly in danger of being eml)roiled in 
the war Avithont intention or fault on their part. 

The rules of international law seem to have been made for 
tlie nations at war rather than for the nations at ])eace. It is 
almost impossible to alter these rules during the war, l)ecause 
any material change, affecting as it would tiie interests of bel- 
ligerents, woidd be a seeming violation of neutrality. .Vs soon 
as peace returns there will l)e a demand for an intei'uational 
conference on the sulgect. The presumi)tion shoidd then be 
given to peace, for peace, not war, is tbt' noi-inal condition. 
Tf nations are determined to fight, they should as far as |)ossible 
l)ear the burden themselves and not be permitted to transfer it 
to the nations wliich a\oid war by i-esorting to reason instead 
of force. 

Tender the stress and strain of the titanic struggle in whicli 
they are engaged, each side has felt itself justified in encroach- 
ing upon the rights of neutrals. The ocean highways, tlie cora- 
nu)n property of all, have Ixmmi to some extent appropriated for 
war purposes and delicate dipbunatic rpu^stions are forced ujjou 
the neutral nations. 

Just at this finu' when ilu'se questions are most acute the 
belligerent governments are least able to deal with them with 
the calmness and poise which their great importance demands. 

N"o wonder everv neutral nation is increasinglv anxious for 



the war to end; but of all tlio neutral nations ours has the most 
reason to pray for the return of peace — most reason to set its 
face resolutely against participation in this war. This nation, 
the head of the neutral group and the sincere friend of all the 
belligerents, is in duty hound to set an example in patience 
and self-restraint. 

In alt history no such opportunity has ever come to any other 
nation as that which is destined to come to the United States. 
In all history no other peace-maker has ever been in position to 
claim so rich a blessing as that which will l)e pronounced upon 
our President when the time for mediation comes — as come it 
must. 

A FALSE PHILOSOPHY, 

AND ITS NATURAL RESULTS 

The conliict now raging in Europe has been descril)ed as 
"The Causeless War," but since no one would be bold enough 
to lay the blame for such an unholy situation upon an over- 
ruling Providence, it must find its origin in acts for which man, 
and man alone, is responsible. 

It is not a race war; on the contrary, the races are quite 
inexplicably mixed. Latin joins with Saxon; the Frank is the 
ally of the Slav; while in the opposing ranks, Teuton and Turk 
fight side by side. 

N^either is it a religious war. On the Bosphorus the cross 
and the crescent make common cause; Protestant Kaiser and 
Catholic Emperor have linked their fortunes together and hurl 
their veteran legions against an army in which are indiscrim- 
inately mingled communicants of the Greek Church, of the 
Church of Rome and of the Church of England. 

Nor yet is it a rivalry between families. The leading actors 
in this unprecedented tragedy are related l)y blood, but kinship 
seems to be a negligible factor — it explains neither friendships 
nor enmities. 

No; race, religion and familv, each with many wars to answer 
for, can plead not guilty in the present inquiry. So far as can 
be judged, there appears upon the surface no cause that by any 
known standard can ])e regarded as adequate for such a cata- 
clysm as we are now witnessing. 

The notes that passed from chancellery to chancellery were 
couched in most friendly language. Tliese notes could not have 
been intended to deceive. Sovereigns visited each other and 
were received with every evidence of cordiality and good will. 
This hospitality could not have been insincere. 

Each ruler declared that he did not wish war; would they all 
say this if an adeqxuite cause for war had actually existed? 
Tlicy have all denied responsibility for the war — would they 
have done so if they had regarded (be war as either necessary 
or desirable? 

But there is even Itcttor proof; aye, indisj)utal)le proof, that 



6 

no sufficient cause existed — viz., the conclusion to be drawn 
from inaction. 

Would not these rulers have busied themselves trying to save 
their subjects by the eradication of the cause, had they known 
of the existence of such cause? Would they have spent their 
time in social festivities and in exchanging compliments, had 
they known that they were on the brink of war? It is incon- 
ceivable! It would be a gross libel on them — one and all — to 
charge such a wanton disregard of their sacred duty. 

What then was the cause? If I have correctly analyzed the 
situation, the war is the natural result of a false philosophy. 
Theories of life are invisible, but they control for good or for 
evil. They enter our very Ijcing and may be as deadly to the 
moral man as germs of disease, taken into the body, are deadly 
to the physical man. The fundamental jirecept of this false 
])hilosophy is that "might makes right." It is not proclaimed 
now as loudly as it once was, but it is often acted upon in par- 
ticular cases by those who would be unwilling to endorse it as a 
general principle. 

The individual makes this maxim his excuse for violating 
three commandments that stand in his way; this maxim also 
leads nations to violate these same three comnumdments for 
the same purpose, l)ut on a larger scale. 

Strange that men should fail to apply to nations the moral 
])i-inciples which are now so generally applied to the individual 
units of a nation ! 

The tendency is to condemn the violation of these command- 
ments, not in proportion to the injury done, but rather in inverse 
proportion. 'No one will dispute the validity of the injunction 
against covetousness as long as the object coveted is of little 
value or not greatly desired ; l)ut the last and all inclusive speci- 
fication, viz., "or anything that is thy neighl)or''s," is sometimes 
interi)reted by nations to excejit ajieighl)or's vineyard or a ueigh- 
l)or's territory. Covetousness turns to might as the principle to 
l)e invoked, and the greater the unlawful desire, the firmer the 
faith in the false princi])le. 

Conquest is the word used to describe the means employed 
for securing the thing desired, if the force is employed by a 
nation, and conquest violates the commandments. "Tliou slialt 
not steal" and "Thou shalt not kill." 

By what. so])histry can rulers convince themselves that, while 
petit larceny is criminal, grand larcenv is jiatriotic: that while 
it is rei)rehensible for one man to kill another for liis money, 
it is glorious for one nation to ])ut to the sword the inhalutants 
of another nation in order to extend boundaries? 

It is a mockery of moral distinctions to hang one man for 
taking the life of another, either for money or in revenge, and 
then make a hero of another man who M-ades "through slaughter 
to a throne, and shuts the doors of mercy on numkind."* 

As in the case of the individual, the violation of the com- 
mandments — Thou shalt not covet. Thou shalt not steal, and 
Thou slialt not kill, are usuallv traceable to tlie violation of tlie 



first great commandment, "Thou slialt have no other Gods be- 
fore me"— that is, to the putting of self ))el'ore service of the 
Creator; so the violation of these commanchnents by nations is 
not always but usually due to selfishness— the putting of sup- 
posed material advantages before obedience to the Divine law. 

War is occasionally altruistic in purpose and the soldier always 
exhibits unselfishness of a high order, but, as a rule, conflicts 
are waged for selfish ends. 

The individual finds that Jehovah's justice can not be evaded; 
for wrong-domg works its own punishment on the wrongdoer 
m the form of perverted character, even when he escai)es the 
penalties of human law. The nation is as powerless to repeal 
or to ignore with impunity the laws of God— "though hand 
join in hand they shall not be unpunished." 
_ If I have made it clear that the doctrine that might makes 
right is the most common cause of war, we may pass to the 
consideration of a maxim quite sure to l)e applied in war, 
namely,, that "Like cures like" — the theorv upon which retalia- 
tion rests. 

The two are so closely allied that it is almost' inevitable that 
those who endorse the former will resort to the latter— one repre- 
sents the spirit of evil, the other its most familiar manifesta- 
tion. Retaliation is rivalry in wrong-doing — a neck and neck 
race toward the l)ottomless pit. And yet there are many believers 
in the gospel of force who have brouglit themselves to think that 
cruelty can be cured by greater crueltv— tliat the only way 
to win an antagonist away from inhuman acts is to surpass him 
in inhumanities. Absurdity of absurdities ! 

But miglit must find a pretext for arming itself; and what is 
the pretext? There was a time when men openly advocated 
war as a thing to be desired ; commended it to each generation 
as a sort of tonic to tone up the moral svstem and prevent 
degeneracy, but we have passed that dav. 

N'ow, all join in the chorus for peace.' And how, according to 
the jingoes, shall peace be insured? "By ])rei)aredness," "sij^ 
these sons of Mars. Prepare, all prepare; equip vourselves witli 
the most modern implements of destruction ; arm, drill : get 
]e;idv; and then stand with finger on a hair trigger musket 
and preserve peace— yes, preserve it until some one, by accideni 
or design, gives the signal— then all fall upon each other with 
cries for blood. Preparedness is the kindling; opportunity i^ 
the match. 

We dare not trust the |)eace of the world to those who spend 
their time in getting ready for wars that should never come. 
Half the energy employed in preparing for war would efi:'ectually 
))revent war if used in propagating the jirineiples which make 
tor peace. 

Fnstead of preventing war, preparedness provokes war, because 
It IS ]mi)ossible to coerce the people into beai-ing the burdens 
ini-ulent to continuous and increasing preparation without culti- 
vating hatred as if it were a national virtue. There must be some 



8 

one to fear: some other preparing nation that must be repre- 
sented as plotting for war. 

Hate sets np sham standards of lionor and converts every 
wound into a festering sore ; hate misunderstands ; hate misinter- 
prets; hate maligns its supposed adversary, while every con- 
tractor, battleship builder and manufacturer of munitions of war 
applauds. 

How can preparedness prevent war if all prepare? Each 
step taken by one nation toward more complete preparedness 
excites the other nations to additional purchases and new levies, 
until all have exhausted their productive industries and menaced 
their moral progress. 

The doctrine that preparedness will prevent war will not stand 
the test of logic and the conflagration in Europe shows that it 
Tails when tested by experience. 

If any nation is without excuse for entering into a mad rivalry 
with the belligerent nations in pre]:>aration for war it is the 
I'nited States. We are i)rotected on either side by thousands 
of miles of ocean and this protection is worth more to us than 
any number of battleships. We have an additional protection 
in the fact, known to everyone, that we have the men with whom 
to form an army of defense if we are ever attacked ; and it is 
known also that we have the money, too — more money than we 
would have had if all the surplus earnings of the people had 
lieen invested in armament. We not only do not need additional 
preparation, but we are fortunate in not liaving it, since it seems 
impossible for a nation to have what is called preparedness with- 
out having along with it a disposition to use its preparedness on 
the slightest provocation. 

The leading participants in the present war are the nations 
that were best prepared, and I fear it would have l^een difficult 
for ns to keep out of this war if we had been as Avell ])repared 
as they. 

Happy for our nation that we have in the White House at this 
time a President who believes in setting the old world a good 
example, instead of following the ])ad example which it sets in 
this matter ! What an unspeakable misfortune it would have been 
if, in such an hour as this, the nation had bct'u under the leader- 
^ship of a President inflamed by the false philosophy which has 
plunged Europe into the abyss of war I 



}) 
THE WAY OUT 

A ROAD TO PERMANENT PEACE 

Having considered tlie war as it is and the injury which it 
"does neutrals, and then the origin of the war and the causes 
wliicli led up to it. ^\■e are now ready to make inquiry as to the 
way out, that is. the means by wliich hostilities can be Ijrought 
to an end and permanent peace restored. To state in a sen- 
tence the pro{)ositions which I shall proceed to elalwrate: 
Mediation is the means, provided by international agreement, 
tinough which the l)elligerent nations can l)e brought into con- 
ference: tinu' for the investigation of all disputes is the means 
by which future wars can be averted and the cultivation of in- 
teriuitional friendship is the means by which tlie desire for war 
•can be rooted out. 

What are the nations fighting about? No one seems to 
know, or if anyone does know he has not taken the public 
into his confidence. We have been told, in a general way. 
that the Allies are fighting against ''militarism"' and in defense 
•of "popular government." and that Germany is fighting in de- 
fense of "German culture" and for the nation's right to "a place 
in the sun.'' But these generalities are so differently inter- 
]U'eted as not to convey a definite idea. When the President 
•oifered mediation at the very beginning of the struggle the 
answers which he received from the various rulers were so much 
alike that one telegram might have served for all. The sub- 
stance of each answer was 'T did not want war and I am not 
to blame for the war that now exists.'' But that was ten months 
ago; the question now is not whether those in authority in the 
belligerent nations did or did not want war then ; we may accept 
their answers as given in good faith, l)ut the important qiiestion 
is still unanswered. 'T did not want war" may have been deemed 
sufficient at the time the answers were given, but the real ques- 
tion is, Do you want war now? If not, why not say so? The 
months have dragged their bloody length along — each more 
terrible than the month before — and yet the crimson line of 
battle sways to and fro. each movement marked by dreadful 
loss of life. While warriors die and widows weep the sovereign 
rulers of the warring powers withhold the word that would sto]) 
the war. No chief of state has yet said "1 do not want war." 
No one in authority has yet publicly declared his willingness 
to state the terms ui)on which his nation is ready to negotiate 
peace. Are not these dying men and these sorrowing women 
■entitled to know definitely for what their nation is fighting? Is 
it territory? Then how much territory and where is it located? 
Is it the avenging of a wrong done? Then how much more 
blood must be spilled to make atonement for the blood already 
shed? Some day accumulated suffering will overflow: some 
■day the pent up anguish which this war is causing will 
find a \oice. Tlion. if not l)efore. the rulers in the war zone 



10 

will ]>ause to listen to the stern question '"Why do we die?" — the 
question which shakes thrones and marks the farthermost limits 
of arbitrary power. 

And is not the outside world entitled to know the price of 
peace? Must the neutrals bear the penalties which war neces- 
sarily visits upon them and yet remain in ignorance as to the 
issues at stake? Their trade is interru])te(l, their citizens are 
drowned, they are the victims of stray Indlets — have they no 
rioht to know what it is that, being done, will draw down the 
curtain on this dark tragedy? Has any nation a purpose for 
continuing this war which it does not dare to state to the world, 
or even to its own people? 

Surely neither side thinks it can annihilate the other. Great 
nations can not be exterminated — population can not be wii)e(l 
out l)y the sword. The combatants, even though the war may 
have made them heartless, will shrink from the task of carrying 
this slaughter l)eyond the point necessary to win a victory. And 
it must be remembered that war plans often miscarry. Predic- 
tions made at the beginning of the war have not been fulfilled. 
The British did not destroy the German fleet in a month, and 
Germany did not take Paris in two months, and the Russian 
army did not eat Christmas dinner in Berlin. But even if 
extermination were possible, it would be a crime against civiliza- 
tion which no nation or group of nations could afford to commit. 
If it is \andalism to destroy the finest specimens of man's 
workmanship, is it not sacrilege to engage in the wholesale de- 
struction of human beings — the supreme example of God's handi- 
work? We may find cases of seeming total depravity among in- 
dividuals, hut not in a nation or in a race. 'I'lie future has use 
for the peoples now at war: they have a necessary part in that 
destinv which mankind must work out together, regardless of 
these ebullitions of anger. The Lord miglit have made all fiowei-s 
of one kind, of one color and alike in fragrance — but He did not. 
And hrc'iiisc He did not, the world is uK^re attractive. Varietv. 
not anil'ormity, is the law among men as well as among the 
flowers. The nations which are activelv ]>artici])ating in this 
war are what they are l)ecause of struggles that have lasted for 
centuries. They differ in language, in institutions, in race char- 
acteristics and in national history, but together they constitnti' 
a great living Ixnujuet of surpassing beauty. 

-We'uuiy ])ut aside, therefore, as wholly im]>racficable. if 
not inconceivable, the thought that this war can continue until 
one side has annihilated the other. What then can be the pur- 
pose? The com])lete domination of JMirope by one nation oi- 
grou]) of nations? 'V]\o al)surdity of such a plan is only second 
to the absurdity of the thought that eithei' side can annihilati' 
the othci'. The woi-ld is not looking foi- a master; the day of 
the (h'spot is gone. The fufui'e will l)e gloomy indeed if the 
smaller nations must pass uncfer the yoke of any power or com- 
hination of nowcrs. The (piestion is not. Who shall dictate on 
land? or. Who shall dominate upon the sea? 'I'hese questions 
aic not piaclical ones. Tlic i-cal fpicstion is. not how a few can 



11 

lay burdens upon the rest, hut how all can work together as roui- 
rades and hrothers. 

Even if it were possible for one side to force the other side to 
its knees in supplication — even if it were possible for one side 
to write the terms of the treaty in blood and compel the other 
side to sign it. face downward and prostrate on the ground — it 
could not afford to do so; and unless the belligerents have read 
history to no purpose, they will not desire to do so. Time and 
again some nation, hoastful of its strength, has thought itself 
invincible,, but the ruins of these mistaken and misguided na- 
tions line the pathway along which the masses have marched to 
higher ground. Despotism has in it the seeds of death ; the 
spirit that leads a nation to aspire to a supremacy based on force 
is the spirit that destroys its hope of immortality. Only those 
who are unacquainted with the larger influences can place their 
sole reliance on the weajions used in physical warfare. They see 
only the things that arc transient and ephemeral ; they do not 
comprehend the higher truth that "the things that are seen are 
temporal ; the things that are unseen are eternal." 

Christian nations need to read again Christ's prayer upon the 
cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." 
All the participants in this war have sinned enough to make 
them anxious to exhibit that forgiving spirit Avhich is the 
measure of the forgiveness which can be claimed. 

When can peace be restored? Any time — now, if the ])artici- 
])ants are really weary of this war and ready for it to en(]. Tf 
any nation is not ready, let its ruler state in clear, distinct and 
definite terms the conditions upon which it is willing to agree 
to peace; then if an agreement is not reached, the blame for the 
continuance of the war will he upon those who make unreason- 
able demands. 

What can be done hy the advocates of peace? 

First. They can crystallize the sentiment in favor of peace 
into a coercive force, for public opinion at last controls the world. 
There is a work which the neutral nations can do ; they can offer 
mediation, jointly or severally. It is not an act of hostility, l)ut 
an act of friendshi]). The Hague Convention, to which all the 
governments are parties, expressly declares that the offer of 
mediation shall not be considered an unfriendly act. The dutv 
of offering mediation may seem to rest primarily upon the Fnited 
States, the largest of the neutral nations and the one most inti- 
mately Iiound 1)\- ties of blood to all the helligerents. The 
T"'^nited States did make an offer immediately after the war b(^- 
gan, hut why not again and again and again, until our offer or 
■■^oiiie other offer is acce]>ted? Why not stand at the door and 
knock, as we would at the door of a friend if we felt that tlie 
friend was in need and that we could render a service? 

But our action or failure to act need not deter anv other 
neutral countrv from acting. This is not a time to stand on 
ceremony : if any other country, for any reason — no matter what 
that rea«on may be — is in a better position than we to tender its 
<rood oflfice-'. it shoidd not delav for a moment. Tt is for the 



12 

belligerents to decide which offer, if any, they ■will accept. I am 
sure they will not complain if, following the promptings of our 
hearts, we beseech them to let us help them back to the paths of 
peace. 

Will they object on the ground that they will not consent to 
any peace until they have assurances that it will be a permanent 
peace ? That suggestion has been made — I think both sides have 
expressed a desire that the peace, when secured, shall be perma- 
nent — but who can give a pledge avS to the future? If fear that 
the peace may not be permanent is given as the reason for re- 
fusal it is not a sufficient reason. While no one can stand surety 
for what may come, it is not difficult to adopt measures which 
will give far greater assurance of permanent peace than the world 
has ever known before. 

Second. The treaty in which they join should provide for 
investigation by a pernument international commission of every 
dis/nde that may arise, no matter what its character or nature. 
The United States has already made thirty treaties embodying 
this principle and these thirty treaties link our coimtry to nearly 
three-quarters of all the inhabitants of the world. We have such 
a treaty in force lietween the United States and four of the 
countries now at war — Great Britain, France, Kussia and Italy. 
The principle of this treaty has been accepted by three other 
belligerents — Germany, Austria and Belgium — although treaties 
with these nations have not yet been negotiated. These seven 
irarring nations hare endorsed the principle embodied in these 
treaties, namely, that there shall he no declaration of war &r 
rommenc.ement of hostilities until the snbject in dispute has been 
investigated by an international cohiniission. Wliy can they not 
apply the principle as between themselves? What cause of war 
is of such magnitude that nations can afford to commence shoot- 
ing at each other before the cause is investigated? A treaty 
such as those which now protect the peace of the United States 
would give a year's time for investigation and report, and who 
doubts that a years time would be sufficient to reach ah amicable 
solution of almost every difficulty? Does anyone suppose that 
the present war would liave been begun if a year's time had 
been taken to investigate the dispute between Austria and 
Servia? It will be remembered that Servia had only twenty- 
four hours in which to reply and it will also be remembered that 
during this brief time the rulers of the old world endeavored to 
find a means of preventing war. If they had only had some 
machinery which they could have employed to avert war, how 
gladly would they have availed themselves of it ! The machinery 
provided by treatv can be resorted to with honor — yes, with 
honor — no matter how liigh a sense of lionor the nation has. The 
trouble has been that while the nations were abundantly provided 
with machinery for conducting war. they ])ossessed no machinery 
for the promotion of peace. A year's time allows passion to 
subside and reason to resume its sway — it allows man to act 
when he is calm instead of having to act when he is angry. 
WluMi a man is angry he swaggers around and talks about what 



he can do, and lie often overestimates his strength ; when lie is 
cahn he considers what lie ought to do. When he is angry he 
hears the runihling of earthquakes and tlie sweep of the hurri- 
cane; when he is cahn lie listens to the still small voice of 
conscience. 

Third. While the period of investigation provided for in our 
treaties will go far toward preventing war, still even a yeai"'^ 
deliberation does not give complete protection. Tn order to 
secure the investigation of all questions without exce])tion, it 
was necessary to reserve to the contracting parties liberty of 
action at the conclusion of the investigation. War is thus 
reduced from a probability to a mere possibility, and this is an 
immeasurable advance; but the assurance of permanent peace 
can not be given until the desire for Avar is eradicated from 
the human lieart. Com]iulsory periods of investigation supply 
the machinery by which nations can maintain peace with honor 
// they so desire, but the final work of the advocates of peace is 
educational — it is the cultivation of the spirit of brotherhood 
condensed into the commandment, "Thou slialt love thy neighbor 
as thyself." Is it impossible to imagine a civilization in which 
greatness will be measured by service and in which the rivalry 
will be a rivalry in doing good ? N^o one doubts that the lot of 
each membei' of society would be infinitely better under such 
conditions; why not strive to bring al)out such conditions? Is 
it visionary to liope and labor for this end? "Where there is 
no vision the people perish." It is a "death grapple in the dark- 
ness twixt old systems and the "Word." The old system has 
broken down ; it can let loose the furies, but it can not bind 
them ; it is impotent to save. The question is not whether the 
Word will triumph — that is certain — i^it wlien? And after 
what sufferings? 

Thomas Carlyle. his voice rising clear and strong above the 
l)abble of mammon, asked, in the closing chapters of his Frencli 
.Tievolution : 

"Hast thou considered how Thought is sti'onger tlian Artillery- 
parks, and (were it fifty years after death and martyrdom, or 
were it two thousand years) writes and unwrites Acts of Parlia- 
ment, I'emoves mountains; models the World like soft clay? 
Also how tlio l)eginning of all Thought, woi-th the name, is 
Love." 

The trutli which he uttered is still truth, and, no matter who 
uttered it, the thought is the thought of Him who spake as never 
man spake; who was described in ]n-o])hecy as The Prince of 
Peace; whose coming was greeted with the song of "Peace on 
Earth ; Good Will to Men," and whose teachings, when ap])lied, 
will usher in the enduring peace of an universal brotherhood. 

W. J. Bryan. 



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